**1. Introduction**

It is estimated that the total world population could reach 9.15 billion in 2050 [1], and to increase the global food production, even more advances in agriculture must be made intensive in crop yields and in practices that are more friendly with the environment. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a water solution without soil. If the roots are suspended in a liquid medium or supported using an inert medium, the system is known as Nutrient Film Technique (NFT). In NFT systems, the plants (lettuce, leafy crops and herbs) are grown in channels (gullies) and fed continuously at a rate of approximately 1 L min<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup> (**Figure 1**).

On the other hand, if the roots are floating (pool), the system is known as deep floating technique (DFT). The DFT systems (**Figure 2**) are long, cement or wood rectangular reservoirs and lined with a durable polyliner. To keep the plants in net pots, holes are perforated in a foam board which rest on the surface of the water.

**Figure 1.** *Nutrient film technique.*

#### **Figure 2.** *Deep floating technique (courtesy of Hydroponicsfarm).*

Aeroponic systems are very similar to NFT systems, differing primarily in the spatial arrangement of cultivation channels. The cultivation space is optimized for the aeroponic plants are grown suspended in air, having as support PVC pipes which can be arranged horizontally or vertically, enabling a better exploitation of areas and installing a larger number of plants per square meter surface of the oven, obtaining thus a direct increase of productivity [2, 3]. Hydroponic systems, such as the deep flow technique, nutrient film technique or aeroponic systems, are essential tools in plant factories [4]. To accomplish with this, hydroponic systems must collect a lot of information, since this allows a better diagnosis of the problems and better understand the development of hydroponic crops. Automatic sensors not only have the ones that can be read at predefined intervals, but also the readings of these sensors are stored so that higher results can be obtained for analysis and diagnosis resulting in higher crop yields and friendlier practices with the environment. These days, there are microcontrollers (**Figure 3**) on the market that are compatible with a wide variety of sensors and can be used for automatic monitoring and robotics.

The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) has allowed farmers to automate the hydroponic culture (**Figure 4**). Monitoring of water level, pH, temperature, flow and light intensity can be regulated using IoT, which allows for machine to machine interaction and controlling the hydroponic system autonomously and intelligently employing deep neural networks [5]. The pH of the nutrient solution for most nutrient film technique is 6.0–7.0 for most plants grown in recirculating nutrient solution and 5.4–6.0 for substrate culture [6]. There are also powerful computers that could store all this information and build a big database.

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**Figure 4.**

**Figure 3.**

*conductivity (courtesy of Arduino).*

It has been implemented a smart hydroponics system (**Figure 5**) that automates the growing process of the crops using Bayesian network model, which classifies and predicts the optimum value in each actuator to autonomously control the hydroponics farm [7]. Finally, we raise topics related to robotics for hydroponic systems (**Figure 6**). Hydroponic systems cover approximately 35,000 ha in the world and further research is needed to develop new hydroponic systems to reduce the cost of energy and materials required for crop production. Therefore, this chapter aims to be a practical guide to those interested in hydroponics automation and robotics to produce vegetables.

*Schematics of internet of hydroponics (courtesy National Institute of technology, Trichy, India).*

*Huertomato microcontroller for measuring of humidity, water and air temperature, light, pH, electrical* 

*Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438*

*Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438*

#### **Figure 3.**

*Urban Horticulture - Necessity of the Future*

**Figure 1.**

**Figure 2.**

*Deep floating technique (courtesy of Hydroponicsfarm).*

*Nutrient film technique.*

Aeroponic systems are very similar to NFT systems, differing primarily in the spatial arrangement of cultivation channels. The cultivation space is optimized for the aeroponic plants are grown suspended in air, having as support PVC pipes which can be arranged horizontally or vertically, enabling a better exploitation of areas and installing a larger number of plants per square meter surface of the oven, obtaining thus a direct increase of productivity [2, 3]. Hydroponic systems, such as the deep flow technique, nutrient film technique or aeroponic systems, are essential tools in plant factories [4]. To accomplish with this, hydroponic systems must collect a lot of information, since this allows a better diagnosis of the problems and better understand the development of hydroponic crops. Automatic sensors not only have the ones that can be read at predefined intervals, but also the readings of these sensors are stored so that higher results can be obtained for analysis and diagnosis resulting in higher crop yields and friendlier practices with the environment. These days, there are microcontrollers (**Figure 3**) on the market that are compatible with a wide

variety of sensors and can be used for automatic monitoring and robotics.

that could store all this information and build a big database.

The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) has allowed farmers to automate the hydroponic culture (**Figure 4**). Monitoring of water level, pH, temperature, flow and light intensity can be regulated using IoT, which allows for machine to machine interaction and controlling the hydroponic system autonomously and intelligently employing deep neural networks [5]. The pH of the nutrient solution for most nutrient film technique is 6.0–7.0 for most plants grown in recirculating nutrient solution and 5.4–6.0 for substrate culture [6]. There are also powerful computers

**28**

*Huertomato microcontroller for measuring of humidity, water and air temperature, light, pH, electrical conductivity (courtesy of Arduino).*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Schematics of internet of hydroponics (courtesy National Institute of technology, Trichy, India).*

It has been implemented a smart hydroponics system (**Figure 5**) that automates the growing process of the crops using Bayesian network model, which classifies and predicts the optimum value in each actuator to autonomously control the hydroponics farm [7]. Finally, we raise topics related to robotics for hydroponic systems (**Figure 6**). Hydroponic systems cover approximately 35,000 ha in the world and further research is needed to develop new hydroponic systems to reduce the cost of energy and materials required for crop production. Therefore, this chapter aims to be a practical guide to those interested in hydroponics automation and robotics to produce vegetables.

#### **Figure 5.**

*Automatic grow cabinets for growing plants at home (courtesy of HG-hydroponics).*

#### **Figure 6.** *Robot for hydroponic systems (courtesy of Iron Ox Company).*
